Mistakes
by esthete-of-the-world
Summary: What if Cyclops hadn't saved Kurt when he got knocked out of the rescue basket? What if he got hurt... and it was all Tabitha's fault? Rated T for injury. Kurtty. Abandoned.
1. Falling

Mistakes

By: Mooninthenight

**Disclaimer- I don't own.**

**A/N- This is a "what if?" story, set during the episode Bada-Bing, Bada-Boom, the third episode of the second season. I was watching it the other day and thought, "Dang, that could've ended badly. Hm…" and this fanfic was born. I don't know if anyone else has done one like this already, but if they have, sorry. Oh, and this is probably not going to be a Kurt/Tabby story. Sorry again. I like Kurtty better. Enjoy, and R/R!**

"Confirmed. He's unconscious."

"And starving. C'mon, hurry up Evan, I need my breakfast!" Early morning Logan sessions were always bad, but today Kurt was the "victim" in a fake rescue mission on the side of a cliff, and now he was uncomfortable on top of being hungry and tired.

"Quiet! Just ten more minutes, Kurt! _Then_ you can eat enough Gut Bombs to feed a small country."

"Right." The rocks Jean had _very _carefully placed on him were already starting to make his legs ache.

"Okay, Tabby. Get down here with that basket." Spike said into his headset.

"Boom-Boom? You're putting my life in the hands of a maniac?"

Fifty feet above them, said maniac was brought back to Earth by a disgruntled Cyclops.

"Hey, Cy! Am I up?" She took off her headphones, which were still blasting some pop song.

He sighed. "Yeah." It was way too early to be doing this kind of stuff, but Logan insisted on it.

"Yeah! Look out below, Boom-boom's bombing in! Weehoo!" She jumped onto the side of the rescue basket, putting one foot on the side, and held onto one of the ropes. Wolverine shook his head and started to lower the basket. Boom-boom swung it side to side as she descended, almost hitting Evan.

"Hey! Watch it, will ya?"

"Sorry, Prickles! Didn't see you there." Evan grunted. He sure didn't want to be in Nightcrawler's place right now. Below, Kurt turned his face downwards in an effort to avoid the pebbles Tabitha's collision with the cliff had sent down.

"I'm going to die." He sounded strangely accepting. He had already said mental goodbyes to his family when Tabby finally reached him.

"Hey, cutie." Kurt was thankful for his fur right then; it covered his blush.

"Hi. I have to know. Are you insane?" Kurt cocked his head. Tabby didn't answer, just gave Kurt a little pinch on the cheek. Now he was _really_ thankful for his fur.

"Hey, 'Crawler! You're knocked out, remember?" Evan called down, clearly annoyed.

"Right." He slumped, very convincingly unconscious, if it weren't for the small smile on his lips.

"Well. First things first, right? We gotta boom apart these rocks!" As she spoke, a golf ball-sized glowing ball appeared in her palm.

"Vait, vait!" Kurt cried, but Boom-Boom had already wedged her bomb between two rocks.

"Fire in the hole!"

"Ah!"

The rocks cracked apart into rubble, leaving Nightcrawler mostly unhurt; his tail was going to pay for that one.

"And in the basket you go!" Her foot roughly shoved him off the safety of his little cliff into the basket where he swung wildly.

"Ouch! I'm an injured victim, not a log!" Tabitha only laughed and ignored Kurt's complaint.

"Nightcrawler, huh? That name's just not working for you, I'm sorry. Hey," eyes lighting as if struck by sudden inspiration," how about 'Wild Blue Yonder Boy'?"

"You _are_ insane!" -_She's funny. And kind of cute…- _Kurt was suddenly thankful that Tabitha couldn't read minds like Jean.

"Hey, guys? Sorry to interrupt, but could we move this along?" Evan said.

"Oh, yeah. Hey Badger, tug us up!" Tabby called up.

"It's Wolverine" growled Logan, but started up the crane anyway.

They started up, and were almost half way there when Nightcrawler got a mischievous grin on his face, and rolled himself out of the basket. Tabby gasped, terrified.

Kurt bamfed back after a moment, laughing. "You forgot to strap me in! Minus ten points!"

Evan, twenty feet above, saw the incident, and shook his head. _This is not going to end well._

"Oh, yeah? Well, hang on to your blue tail, Yonder Boy." Half-playful, half wanting to cover up how scared she was a second ago, Boom-Boom started swinging the basket wildly side to side.

"Woohoo!" she yelled joyfully, and started throwing a few cherry bombs against the wall of the cliff. Kurt was laughing.

Then the basked swung too far, against the cliff side.

Kurt, still lying back in the basket, took the blow full force to his head. He was knocked out instantly and slipped from the basket.

Tabby watched her limp teammate fall for the second time that day, only this time he wasn't playing.

"Hey, stop messing around! Get back up here!"She hoped against hope that he would port back again, laughing. But Kurt didn't answer. He didn't port back. He wasn't laughing.

Jagged rocks were the only thing to break his fall as he crashed into the waves below.

**A/N- I know the first chapter was almost word-for-word the first 2 minutes of the actual episode, but I had to change one thing, that Evan was on the cliff with Tabby and Kurt, not Cyclops, so he couldn't blow up the rocks in the water. And don't worry, this is going in a _completely _different direction than the episode. But I would recomend that you watch the first bit of the real episode, since they are basicly the same for a couple minutes.**


	2. Shock

Disclaimer- I don't own X-Men, sadly.

**A/N- Hello, fabulous readers! Here's chapter 2. And thank you, RoseJustice, for my first ever review as a author. As they say, reviews make the world go round!**

**Chapter 2- Shock**

"Kurt!" Tabby couldn't think. All she knew was that Kurt fell, and it was her fault. Her numb mind barely registered Evan's yells, or Logan diving in after Kurt from a height only he could survive, fifty feet to the side from where Kurt landed. Where there weren't any rocks. Odd, how in the midst of such a terrifying moment, she remembered such trivial things with such clarity.

Evan slipped twice as he was hauled up the cliff in his climbing harness.

There was a breeze, a cold one, which ruffled her hair and made her shiver.

She remembered the way Kurt's three-fingered hand landed on a rock and slid down, so slowly, like it was trying to grasp the stone.

She remembered the way his blood stained the pale tan of the rocks that hurt him.

She remembered the way she wobbled on her perch when the basket suddenly started sliding down, because this was a real rescue mission now. Because of her.

It was Logan that snapped her back.

"Boom-Boom, help me get him in the basket." She complied, gently lifting bleeding blue mutant into the basket. She strapped him in this time. Logan hauled himself up next, panting from the effort of supporting Kurt and one-hundred pounds of adamantium in his body. He made a thumb up sign to Cyclops, who was manning the crane.

The ride up was agonizingly slow. Tabitha gradually became aware of her own gasping breaths, and the whimpers that accompanied them. She made herself look down at what she had done. Kurt was a mess. He was soaked, making his fur a dark blue that almost matched the blood that seeped into it. The dark liquid dribbled from his arm, leg, and chest and smaller cuts covered the rest of his body. His eyes were closed and his body was still, stiller than sleep. Only the rise and fall of his now red chest showed that he was alive. For now.

When they finally reached the top it was all Tabitha could do to not fall back off the cliff as she stumbled off the basket and fell on her knees. There was blood on her hands, and it wasn't hers. She watched her tears fall onto her hands and start to wash away the blood.

No one paid any attention to her. Kitty was screaming hysterically, and Jean had to lead her away to calm her down. Hank emerged from the crowd carrying Kurt gently and began walking in a fast, smooth pace toward the Institute. The others followed, except for Bobby. He went over to where Tabitha was huddled, and wordlessly stood her up and led her after the others as she closed her eyes and wished it was all a dream.

Unknown to Tabitha, Kitty was thinking the same thing. She was talking to Amara near the back of the group, ranting about how they shouldn't have to wait around for other people to finish a session when she heard a scream. Kitty looked over to the edge, where everyone was crowding around looking down at something.

Pushing to the front, she was confused at first, until she saw that Kurt wasn't in the basket, and that Logan had dived into the sea. Her teacher swam to the left a bit before diving down, then resurfaced with the limp form of Kurt.

Her best friend. She held her breath as the basket was lifted up and brought onto land. Logan calmly started unbuckling the straps that held Kurt, and Tabitha staggered off. Then she saw the blood. It seemed to cover him, and Kitty didn't want to think of the wounds that caused it. Kitty screamed. _This can't be happening. _But it was. Jean tried to comfort her, saying words she didn't listen to. All she could see was Kurt, now in Mr. McCoys arms. He looked so small. So weak.

So, so precious. Was this the Kurt that had joked around, who complained at his hunger, just a little earlier? The one that put a smile on everyone's face? He seemed so distant now, looking at the torn body of the creature in Beast's arms.

Kitty decided, right then, to not leave him until he was Kurt again. Faithfully, she ran next to him, and phased through whoever tried to block her from the infirmary. Kurt was laid on a stainless steel table, where Mr. McCoy and Logan cleaned up, stitched, and bandaged his wounds. In the corner, Kitty just watched. She calmed herself down as she watched.

Kurt had fallen out of the basket, that much was clear. Why hadn't he ported? Was he knocked out? How? It didn't matter. All that mattered now was that he recovered.

The Professor let her miss school to stay with Kurt in the infirmary. The others went to school to spread the story of his hiking accident, and her cold. Mr. McCoy wouldn't let any of them in to see Kurt, so they were probably dying to know how he was doing.

For hours she just sat and held her Fuzzy's hand. She wanted to be there when he woke up. A bandage swathed his chest, upper arm, and shin, where he had been hurt the most. Smaller bandages dotted the rest of him, white contrasting with the indigo of his fur. Bruises, barely visible under his fur, blotched the rest of him. Did he even remember falling? Beast said he might have some short term memory loss because of the blow to his head.

"Oh, Fuzzy. What happened?" She whispered, even though he couldn't hear. How could he have survived so many fights with barely a scratch, only to be hurt so bad during a practice? A drill? How had this happened? But even as she thought this, she knew. Who was with Kurt when it happened? Who is constantly being punished for not following rules? Tabitha. She was going to pay for what she did.

**A/N- What do you think, too angsty? I won't know unless you review and tell me! Thanks for reading!**


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